Heartsbane
by SilverCrystal029
Summary: "I love you. I've always loved you." Oneshot set during the Season 8 Episode 3: The Long Night. A/N: **PLEASE don't read if you are not all caught up!


What is there to fear when you're dead, drafted into the_ Night King's_ army, no less?

The night was long, dark, and full of terrors and _no_ night more so than the Long Night. The Great War. The great calamity prophesied since the dawn of time. The Night King was here and so was his army of the dead. The dead don't fear dragons. _Or_ dragon queens.

Danaerys had barely rescued Jon when they mobbed precious Drogon. One, two, maybe five wights was not a problem for a dragon. But for our five_ dozen..._ The beast screeched, tearing violently as the demons swarmed them. The undead yanked at Daenery's fur dress., pulling her every which way. She toppled off her child's back and landed on the frozen cold ground.

Hell raged around her, the dead forcing the unwilling to join their army. Join their cause. She took in the peril and horror on solid ground for a moment before a wight scrambled for her.

Her heart stopped.

She crawled backwards, her hands digging into the frozen soil. She screamed, helplessly. Was she_ really_ nothing without her dragons?

_The sun beamed. Daenerys stared at her longest and most trusted advisor. She knew she wouldn't even have a ghost of a chance at claiming the Iron Throne without Jorah Mormont. But now he was telling her she had to go for her own safety. 'Greyscale...' She cursed to herself. Why him? Why her?_

_"I'm sorry." She said finally, her heart shattering for the thousandth time. Jorah shook his head. _

_"Don't be." He asserted in the only voice that ever made Daenerys feel better. "All I ever wanted was to serve you." Daenerys dropped her gaze. "Tyrion Lannister was right, I love you." She had always known but it didn't shock her any less to hear. "I've always loved you." She blinked. _

Blood from the wight splattered on Daenerys face and clothes. She shouted, knowing nobody could hear her over the chaos. A sword cut clean through the monster's head, sparing Daenerys a little longer. Jorah had heard her and her dragon somehow, heard her pleas for help even when Jon had not. Looking as though he might succumb to his wounds that instant, he raced to the Targaryen and grabbed her, his fingers digging into her skin. He lifted her quickly and pulled.

_"Jorah,_" Escapes parted lips like a sigh. There's no time for pleasantries, no matter how bad he wants to give them. He tugs her along the hell scape, a place she was never meant to be. Daenerys ran as fast as her feet could carry her, wondering how Jorah was moving so quick for someone as injured as him. '_For me...'_ Daenerys thought bitterly. Not only did she have to face death (literally), she had to face her own uselessness in the middle of combat.

Daenerys was no noble woman but she _was_ a Targaryen. Fire coursed through her veins. She fought on dragons, not the battlefield.

Jorah spun away from her, Heartsbane slicing through the undead like butter. Daenerys tried to steady her breathing, scouting for danger. When he had taken out half a dozen wights alone she saw a discarded sword on the ground. She grabbed it, it's sheer weight surprising her. Still, Targaryens didn't go quietly into the night. It was her first time holding a sword, and if it was her last she would go out screaming. Screaming like the Dothraki. Screaming like the Unsullied.

A wight cut's into Jorah's shoulder and he falls to his knees with a yell. She grabs him quickly.

"SER JORAH," Wobbling from the heaviness of the sword, Daenerys the Unburnt charged, slicing through a wight that clutched Jorah's neck. Impressed and proud, he spares a smile for his Khaleesi though he's on the brink of death. _This_ Mormont would not die. Not before this long night was over and the queen was safe. They pressed their backs to one another, weapons drawn. He never thought he'd fight side by side with his Khaleesi, but he can't think of a better way to die.

The undead begin to close in on them. Jorah lashes at them like a cornered animal, savage to fight for his queen. A soldier cuts his thigh, the tip of a sword slices his face.

_ "I love you. I've always loved you. Goodbye Khaleesi."_ _She wasn't shocked to hear it. Far from it. Yet, it still made butterflies take flight in her stomach. Nobody, not even her beloved Khal Drogo, had made her feel as loved as Jorah had. _

_He turns to exile himself from her. For her safety. It is the only way. _

_"Do not walk away from your queen, Jorah the Andal." She ordered, her voice firm. _

Jorah swung his sword through a wight with one hand, screaming with the effort. Daenerys lobbed the heavy sword, desperate in her attempt not only survive but to _protect_ Jorah. Had she been a a good queen to him? A loyal one? Had she appreciated him enough? It didn't feel like it as she struggled against the unbeatable foe: the dead.

But she was fine dying to protect Jorah, he had died a lifetime of times for her. A wight stuck their sword through Jorah's shoulder. The sound he made caused her to feel sick. In a rage, she dragged her sword through the wight's neck. Then stabbed another. If he survives, Jorah makes a note to compliment Daenerys and train her further. But he knows he _won't_ survive.

No matter how many they cut down, more sprouted up. Jorah swung again but he stuttered to his knees, his vision fading. He tried to breathe but blood sputtered from his lips, causing Danaerys to scream ferally.

"_JORAH,_"

_ "You have not been dismissed." She began, her eyes proud. "You pledged yourself to me. You swore to obey my command for the rest of your life." This was true. Jorah lost count of how many times he'd told the Khaleesi as much. But exposing her to Greyscale was not an option, no matter how badly he'd rather die than desert his queen. He bowed, waiting for her to finish. _

She struggled to hold the sword one-handed, hooking an arm under Jorah and hoisting him up. "Do not quit on me!" She ordered, struggling not to cry. If she cried she wouldn't be able to see. If she couldn't see then she couldn't aim. And she refused to die as dead weight to Jorah, they would die fighting the dead together.

Another zombie stuck him in the rib cage, causing him to gurgle. With a howl Daenerys took their head, standing protectively over Jorah. His lips curled, he swung Heartsbane again. A stray sword cut his arm, sending a spray of blood all over Daenerys. She screamed as he swung his sword back, killing the wight as he toppled over. Panting.

"Jorah!" Funny, she sounded so far away. She forced him to lean up, straining to see through the dark. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up, a wight screeching as it ran at them. With his remaining might he shoved Daenerys away, taking the dagger to his chest. "_NO_," She cut the wight who maimed him, her teeth bared like her dragon's.

_'I'll do anything you ask, Khaleesi.' Jorah thought sadly. 'Anything but stay.' _

_ "Then I command you to find a cure. Wherever it is in this world. I command you to heal yourself. And then, return to me." He smiled. Only the Breaker Of Chains could motivate him to do the impossible. That's why she was his queen. _

She drove her sword into the soldier's gut with a battle cry, impressing Jorah even as he died. He fought beside her from the ground, cutting through wights on his knees. Half his body was numb. He had to have lost more than half his total count of blood. His face was carved, flapping in the wind, but he wouldn't fall. Not until the Long Night was over. Fire raged around them.

Dragons roared, people died. Everywhere.

Even as his vision doubled, Jorah shoved Heartsbane into the ground and tried to stand.

"_Stop it!_" Daenerys ordered. Jorah was dying. Even as he stood. She knew it. He knew it. The wights knew it.

He stood again, finally, swaying on weak feet. Daenerys moved behind him instinctually, propping him up. _'I'm here...'_ She thought. She raised the stranger's sword as high as she could.

That's when they began to drop. Like dominos. Both she and Jorah simply watched as the army of the dead died again. "How..."

Jon had said if they destroyed the Night King, they'd destroyed the army. She loved Jon, but she was becoming convinced he didn't know much of anything. It seemed he was right, and somewhere, he had given the Night King what he deserved. She watched in awe as the battlefield grew still. She dropped her sword with a clatter, screaming when Jorah sailed to his knees.

"_We did it..._" She uttered once she was convinced the dead would not rise again. "Jorah, _we_..." He fell onto his back, his eyes rolling wildly in his head. Danaerys had been on enough battlefields to know what a death rattle sounded like. Screaming, she dropped to his side. "NO," She shouted at him. "I order you to survive! I demand it!" She screamed angrily.

He just breathed, trying to find the strength and words to let Daenerys know that what is dead may never die, and that this all but solidified her taking the throne. "_I'm hurt..._" He started, his voice so quiet he was scared she couldn't hear. "_Dany..._" He forced his tired eyes to focus on her face, even if she was crying. This is what he fought for. For her to be the last thing he saw before he met his maker, and to know she was safe. He was the first of her Queensguard.

He was the Heart of her Queensguard. No matter what realm he went to, and he always would be.

"J-Jorah... N-No..."

_'It's okay...'_

"I'm so..." She could tell he had something to say but he wasn't going to be able to say it.

"It's _okay._.." She shuddered. He had to know now, he deserved to rest. She watched the light go out of his eyes, her nails digging into her palms. If she had fallen off of Drogon minutes later they would've lasted.

_ "JORAH,"_

_"And when I take the seven kingdoms I need you by my side." There was no Khaleesi on the throne without Jorah by her side. They both knew that._

_"No, _please..." Jorah had been there when she took her first steps for the throne. How couldn't he be there when she got it? She screamed, laying her forehead on the silent man's chest. And she didn't move it, not even when her own dragon knelt and mourned Ser Jorah and Heartsbane with her. He had done the impossible, he'd gotten his queen through the Long Night. But Daenerys knew as she wept for him that the night had only just begun.

_"I've always loved you. _

_Goodbye, Khaleesi..."_

* * *

A/N: Of all the things I cried and screamed about in Season 8 Episode 3: The Long Night... I ugly cried when I saw how hard Dany was sobbing at the end (and when her dragon curled around them both). After a triumphant scene of the Night King being defeated, no less. :( Such a beautiful, Heartbreaking way for Jorah to go after EIGHT SEASONS. But we knew he wouldn't have gone any other way. Shout out to house Mormont (still can't talk about Lyanna), what is dead may never die.

Ugh, never watching the Avengers and Game Of Thrones in the same weekend ever again.


End file.
